Motorcycle Repair: 1966 Honda CL160 Rear Wheel Damper Bushings, propane torch, rear sprocket

Question
Hello -

Can you advise as to how to go about removing these bushings from a 45 year old rear wheel? How did they do it back in the day?
Honda Part #41241-222-000

The old bushings are shot - the rear sprocket assembly has quite a bit of play. I found replacements at an online Honda parts dealer.


Best Regards,
Ron

Answer
Ron, there isn't any really easy ways to do this. Mostly by grinding tools and/or brute force, in most cases.

When bushings are pressed into blind holes, some people have filled the space below the bushing with grease and then inserted a proper sized rod/tool into the hole and whacked it with a big hammer, which is supposed to hydraulic the bushing out. Messy option, obviously.

A few other people have drilled into the back side of the hub with a couple of holes that line up with the backside edges of bushings, then drove them out with a flat nosed punch.

If you have a die-grinder, you can use a long shank cutting bit and cut a slot into the bushing from the inside or at the edge of the bushing to collapse the wall tension, then drive the remains out with a chisel/punch arrangement.

If you are in the great outdoors, another option is to use a propane torch with a small tip to burn out the rubber (smoky/smelly), then catch the edge of the bushing and drive it inwards until the bushing works loose from the hole.

There are bearing/bushings puller tools that might be fitted inside the inner hole and then forced out with slide-hammer action. These bushings get really wedded to the hub material, in most cases, so they will be most reluctant to come out without serious effort.

Ironically, the shop manual doesn't even mention the procedure. I guess back then, when parts were so cheap, you just bought a new one!

Hope some of this is helpful for you...

Bill Silver